There are only four teams left standing in this year’s Currie Cup, with the Lions hosting the Cheetahs in a catfight at Ellis Park while the Sharks and Bulls lock horns to determine this year’s finalists.
The first semifinal tomorrow sees the table-topping Lions tackle the defending champion Cheetahs at Ellis Park at 2.30pm before what could be seen as the main dish at Loftus Versfeld at 5pm.
Ex-Stormers No.8 Nizaam Carr will lead out his team against a Bok-laden Sharks team with revenge on their minds.
The Bulls suffered a nailbiting 24-18 loss to the Sharks last weekend in what was the Loftus outfit’s second defeat in a row after going eight games unbeaten in this season’s group stages of the Currie Cup.
And Carr says: “As a group, we will never be fine with losing.
“We wanted to get over that hurdle mentally… but now [making up for the Sharks and Lions losses] is something to look forward to, something to fight for.
“I would think they are in a good position – coming off that win – so we wanna chase that [as motivation]...”
Meanwhile, the Sharks have sprung a big surprise by including Springbok inside centre Andre Esterhuizen in their run-on XV.
Esterhuizen was presumed injured after not being selected for the remainder of the Springbok squad’s Rugby Championship Tests after national coach Rassie Erasmus said the midfielder would be out for 12 weeks following surgery on a sore shoulder.
Although they will be bolstered by Esterhuizen’s inclusion, Shark defence coach, Joey Mongalo, expects a Bulls backlash and tells IOL: “The Bulls are a different animal up at Loftus. They’ve got a great record of winning playoff games up there, and they’re probably favourites heading into this game.”
